Wildland firefighters from across the nation - some only recently returning to the region from a 14-day stint battling the massive Georgia wildfires - are gathering at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville this week to learn more about their skill.

More than 355 participants registered for classes last week at the 3rd annual Arkansas River Valley Wildland Fire Academy. The participants will receive classroom training and field exercises to help them become more experienced firefighters, according to Michael Roys, director of the professional development institute at Tech.

Basic to management-level classes on topics such as fire patterns, aviation skills and water usage are available for those who have chosen a career in fire protection with such agencies as the U.S. Forest Service, the Arkansas Forestry Commission, U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma, etc.

According to Teresa Williamson, training specialist for the Oklahoma Native American Tribe at the Ozark-Saint Francis National Forest, Tech was an ideal location for the regional academy because of its proximity to both the Ozarks-Saint Francis and Ouachita National Forests.

Most participants at the academy are affiliated with one of the agencies and are training to be part of a 20-person crew, which includes regular firefighters, squad bosses, a crew boss, or even higher ranking officials.

"To become a basic firefighter, they have to pass the class and a physical-fitness test," Williamson said. "Then to advance, they have to complete at least one season of firefighting."

A season, she said, relates to about a year.

Billy Williams, a Pike County ranger with the Arkansas Forestry Commission, was one of the many academy participants who recently returned from Georgia. After 22 years of wildland firefighting, he said he usually assists in large fires like the ones in Georgia once or twice a year, with last year's big fire occurring in Texas.

"We usually respond to about 70 fires a year in our county, and about 150 in our ranger district," Williams said. "On a good year, we've had as many as 300."

Williams said his agency would respond to fires that local fire departments could not distinguish easily. He has responded to fires as simple as those on the side of the road up to fires that burn hundreds of acres.

During this week's academy, Williams is training to become an engine boss. He has taken a course each year at Tech and has even taught some of the courses.

The qualifications firefighters can earn at the fire academy are recognizable nationwide, according to Williamson.

"This academy really is a big deal, especially for the state," she said. "When the closest academies are in Texas and Mississippi, it makes it a lot easier and a lost more efficient to come here."